Manga and Comic Reviews
Here’s some bad news and a spoiler for you: I’ve heard that Bucky dies in the “Fear Itself” crossover. Now for some worse news: I’m not sure that’s entirely a bad thing after reading this volume. At first I was disappointed to learn that the character’s fate would be determined outside of his series and […]
This is probably the most sane work I’ve read from mangaka Usamaru Furuya, who was also responsible for the deranged, psychosexual coming-of-age story “Lychee Light Club” published earlier this year. It starts out with a metafictional twist as Furuya is struggling to come up with an idea for his next serial and is directed to […]
While Jonathan Hickman’s “Secret Warriors” is an epic, high-energy espionage caper, and his “Fantastic Four” reconfigures its classic elements into something new, this first volume comes off as an attempt to tell one of the “big idea” stories that made him famous at Image in the context of the Marvel Universe. The high concept here […]
This volume is a nice change of pace from the past few multi-volume epics that were the series’ stock-in-trade. Instead we have a collection of three extra-sized issue-length stories (and a short eight-pager) that showcase Tony Stark’s past, present and future. We also get to see what his “archnemesis” The Mandarin has been doing with […]
With my expectations properly adjusted, it’s much easier to appreciate this series’ considerable virtues. Though chapters devoted to things such as breadmaking, embroidery and the title character “obtaining the heart of a bride” could’ve come off as tiresome history lessons, mangaka Kaoru Mori’s skill with character development and art that is both rich in detail […]
I’m a social drinker and generally see alcohol as more of a “social lubricant” than something that’s meant to be savored or enjoyed. My poison of choice is usually Malibu Pineapple Rum, with their Mango variety coming in second. The Banana variety is also good, though they don’t put it in the oversize bottles […]
Last week I mentioned how surprised I was to see Osamu Tezuka’s “The Book of Human Insects” on the New York Times’ manga bestseller list. This week had an equally unexpected and welcome surprise as vol. 17 of “20th Century Boys” debuted at #7. While seeing a Tezuka work on the list was gratifying just […]
No, this was not an improvement. Along with the previous volume, the story told here could’ve been done in half the space. Just take out the pointless stuff about the new Daredevil, give Blade one good introduction scene, and set this up as the “initial strike” from the vampire population instead of the “final battle.” […]
For all the dark clouds that have swirled around the series after its reported budget cuts and the firing of series developer/showrunner Frank Darabont, the season premiere felt like a logical continuation of what had come before. In both a storytelling as well as a stylistic sense, because if you didn’t already know that Darabont […]
Most weeks whenever the New York Times list of the bestselling manga hits Anime News Network, it’s usually “a whole lot of shonen and shojo manga that I’m not reading,” with a few exceptions. “Yotsuba&!,” “Chi’s Sweet Home,” “Claymore,” “Berserk,” “Battle Angel Alita,” and even “Biomega” are the ones that I can recall popping up […]